


Determination or Desperation

by ReotheLeo



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Apocalypse, F/M, Neutral Ending, Zombies, currently ungendered!reader, dead upper world, gender neutral!frisk, like for first chapter only? kinda? idk, like pacifist but neutral ending, oblivious underworld, probably won't change that um
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-03
Updated: 2015-12-04
Packaged: 2018-05-04 17:32:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,531
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5342546
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ReotheLeo/pseuds/ReotheLeo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What makes you think above ground is any better than what's below?</p>
<p>In your desperation you fill Frisk with determination, now they're going to teach you how to feel it too. In a world were you can barely survive, how can you learn to live?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Desperation

**Author's Note:**

> "he who fights with monsters should be careful lest he thereby become a monster."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> escaping hell is easier than it seems

“oh, whoops. this thing’s almost outta batteries. so, hate to cut this short, but… be seeing you, ok, buddy?”

“BYE BYE FOR NOW!”

“See ya, punk!”

Clammy hands trembled, grasp tight around the phone in their hands. Tears rolled freely down their cheeks, and fear clasped their heart tightly. They all sounded so happy back then- all their friends. 

You don’t think their friends have survived the epidemic. Softly you lay your hand on their shoulder, but Frisk shakes you off.

“Frisk?” You dared not raise you voice above a whisper- even though the phone had been on minimum volume, how far the sound rang you didn’t know. You needed to move, hide out somewhere else now. Frisk refused to raise their eyes, glaring angrily into the ground.

“Frisk- stay determined. I’m sure we’ll see them again.” Words of encouragement rounded as awkwardly on your tongue as they had before- before all this. But they seemed to have struck a chord, because your young companion rose their head, eyes gleaming. They grabbed your hand, and suddenly you were rushed out the door- straight into the open. 

Fear seized inside you, and your gaze darted around anxiously. A silent plea left your lips, praying for isolation for the entire journey. Frisk was out of their mind now, showing a complete disregard for both their own and your safety. You dared not scold them, though, as the risk of attracting attention was too-

A screech from behind you, and suddenly the both of you were dashing forward, side by side. The noise from the undead girl attracted a large, male companion, and soon there were three of them on your tails.

 _‘Oh, I hope you know what you’re doing, Frisk.’_ You thought desperately as you both took a right turn at their insistence. Another joined the hoard behind you, but a large fence was rising up in front of you.

Safety? 

Frisk darted in through a small gap in the links, and you really didn’t think you were going to fit in that gap either- but better chained to death than… undeaded to death? You didn’t have time for the semantics. Desperately you shoved yourself sideways through the gap- and it worked! Quickly you span around, and attempted to close the gap, Frisk helping you push the links back together. Suddenly the bodies slammed into the metal, and you both jumped back. You could feel tears building on the edge of your eyes, and Frisk was clinging to you hand so hard you could feel your fingers tingling. 

But the fence held, and the two of you watched in silence as the zombies clambered over one another in their attempts to get to you both.

“We’d better not test our luck.” You shivered, and tugged on Frisk’s hand. “Come on, let’s go to wherever you were so desperate to get too.” They nodded silently, before tugging you off into the trees behind. The screeches of hunger echoed as you left.

Honestly, you were kind of angry at Frisk- what kind of a stunt was that? You’d spent ages building up the trust you needed to get the both of you into the networking tunnels, and now they’d thrown it all away in determination to get to their friends (who were probably all dead, to add to the pile of things that weren’t going your way today). 

But seeing the life, the determination, on their face? 

You’d lost your own will long ago, but to see their spark was inspiring. Angry as you were, you can’t bring yourself to regret a thing.

Suddenly, you were standing over a gaping hole in the ground. Frisk looked up at you, their eyes expectant. Confused, you stared back. They pointed at the hole in the ground.

“What?” You recoiled. “You want me to jump in there?!” A nod, and you stared down into the endless pit in front of you. It was almost certain death; you couldn’t see how far you were falling, or onto what surface you would land. All you knew was that you couldn’t see anything.

The screeches of the girl rang in your ears.

“Alright, let’s do this.” Desperation leaked into you pores, but determination glinted in Frisk’s eyes. They grasped your hand in their, and raised three fingers. You nodded, and nerves made your hand sweaty.

One finger dropped.

The gaping black stared up at you, and for some reason you thought of that strange quote you’d loved such a long, long time ago.

Another finger dropped.

_‘If you gaze into the abyss long enough…’_

The last finger disappeared, and you both stepped forward.

_‘The abyss will also gaze back into you.’_


	2. Suspicion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A skeleton pair is met, puns are made, and hell is covered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DAMN is sans hard to write OTL

Fear drove you to consciousness, and you surged to your feet, eyes darting around erratically. The cavern around you was pitch black, and you couldn’t see past the circle of light you’d landed in. The silence reassured you, however. The dead were never silent; screeches of hunger on the hunt, and moans of desperation in the hunt. Scanning your surroundings once more, you turned your attention back to Frisk, who was slowly rising from the bed of flower’s you’d landed on.

“Are you okay? Does anything hurt?” You kept your voice at a whisper, a habit more than any actual sense of danger. They nodded, but then shook their head. You felt like slapping yourself- you’d asked questions badly again. They started to sign something, but then stopped, contemplating how to explain.

“I’m sorry, I-“ They leant in to hug you, and you felt your shoulders relax a little. They were okay, and they forgave you. Quietly you pulled them close, and you both sat there, enjoying the faux safety of the embrace. It’d been so long since you could both just stop and relax- a year, in fact. You hadn’t even known each other then.

Paranoia twitched in the side of your mind, and you rose, letting go of Frisk gently.

“We should get going.” You eyed the cavern suspiciously. “We need to go somewhere else, somewhere safer.”

There shouldn’t have been a breeze down here, but there was a soft draft rushing from one edge of the light. A soft whiff of something long lost tickled your senses. Home, it whispered, home is near. Baked pies, made by mother, followed by a well-attempted custard, made by your sister. Cheery laughter, light hearted smiles, walls that felt so strong. 

It made you uneasy. A small part of your brain whispered it would be so easy to stay here, in the light, where no one could hurt you.

But that glint in Frisk’s eye was back, and they were tugging on your hand. They wanted to go further, they knew something you didn’t. Was this where their friends were? Or was this just a short cut to the outside? If so, where the dead here too, infestations hiding in the dark, waiting to pounce. Fear filled you, but your trust in Frisk was stronger, and you followed, surveying your surroundings silently as they pulled you deeper into the cavern. They seemed to falter for a moment, after passing through the first arched doorway, but otherwise nothing could stop them in their steps.

The caverns lightened up after a bit, which made you both uneasy and more confident. Although the chances of an outside opening increased with every inch of light, you could also see your surrounding better, reassuring you that there was nothing down here besides the two of you.

Or, there hadn’t been. Two skeletons appeared up ahead, and that wouldn’t have spooked you had they not been moving. The taller one was gesturing in the most animated of ways, and the smaller one was slouching back, almost as if being lectured back by a fellow undead was-

Undead.

You tugged Frisk towards you and pulled them back into a dark corner with you. Was this the next stage of the undead- skeletons? You arms began to shake, and something was patting your face, but you concentrated on hiding Frisk and yourself out of sight. How infectious were they? Did it even need a bite now? What if just a scratch was enough, or they just had to kill you to turn you-

“hey.”

A shreak left your mouth, and you back-pedalled, before turning around and shoving Frisk in the opposite direction. You had to get them to safety- they needed to see their friends again, their determination had to live, you couldn’t let it-

Frisk turned back around, and walked up to the skeleton. Your cheek was sore from where they’d been trying to get your attention, but the pain was only a nibble at the back of your mind. They offered out a hand to the short skeleton, a grin on both their faces.

A loud farting sound echoed the cavern.

It was the loudest noise you’d heard for months, and the last thing you were expecting. The pair were still grinning stupidly in front of you, but the taller skeleton approaching behind was straining his face… bones(?) in an attempt not too join them.

“BROTHER, WHAT HAVE I TOLD YOU ABOUT THAT CHOICE OF GREETING? IT IS BELOW ALL STANDARDS MARKED AS ACCEPTABLE AND SHOULD NOT BE USED AT EVERY OPPORTUNITY, AS YOU SO CHOOSE TO DO.”

The loud rasping voice of the taller skeleton was remarkably familiar, and it took you a moment to connect it to the voice message you had heard earlier that day. These were Frisk’s friends?! You pulled yourself into a ball, no longer sure of anything going on around you. Carefully you watched the group interact, attempting to find some hint of logic in this nonsense.

The shorter skeleton was dressed in a hoodie and what looked like basketball shorts, with slippers and socks on his feet. His shoulders shock with laughter as the taller skeleton (his brother, apparently) continued to rant about the proper way to introduce oneself, but there was a hint of something else in his eyes. His brother, on the other hand, was dressed head-to-toe in what looked kind of like a super hero outfit, all red, white and gold. Frisk stood comfortably between the pair, quietly holding the shorter one’s hand.

Suddenly Frisk jumped a little, before turning around to face you. They waved their hand happily, gesturing for you to come over, and you felt conflicted. On one hand, this was an entirely unfamiliar situation in a world that had become all too dangerous too do more than survive in. On the other, Frisk obviously trusted these people, and you’d trusted your own life to Frisk before. This was just another time you’d have to trust that they had good intentions. 

Slowly you rose to your feet, approaching cautiously from your corner. Frisk offered out their spare hand, and you took it, seeking the reassurance the both of you had shared over the past months during hours spent hiding in crates while the zombies prowled around, smelling but not finding you. The shorter skeleton watched carefully as you approached, but the taller one seemed oblivious to your nervousness.

“WHAT IS THIS, FRISK? YOU HAVE BROUGHT A FRIEND!! HELLO, TALLER HUMAN, I AM THE GREAT PAPYRUS, AND THIS IS MY BROTHER SANS! I AM SURE IT IS AN HONOUR FOR YOU TO MAKE MY ACQUAINTANCE, AS I AM SURE BY NOW MY COOKING AND BATTLING SKILLS ARE KNOWN FAR AND WIDE AMONGST THE UPPER WORLD! BUT FEAR NOT, FOR I AM EXTREMELY EXCITED TO MEET YOU ALSO, AS A WONDERFUL FRIEND OF FRISK, MY BEST FRIEND!”

His voice rang through your ears, louder than you’d heard anyone dare to speak for ages. He paused, and it took you a minute or two to realise he was waiting for you too introduce yourself as well. Formalities had felt pointless after the third round of infections. Softly you whispered you name, before clearing your throat and repeating it louder. You barely managed to produce a third of Papyrus’ volume.

“AN EXCELLENT NAME INDEED, HUMAN!” You didn’t think he could do anything besides shout, honestly. “NOW, HOW ABOUT WE GO AND MEET UP WITH ALL OF OUR OTHER FRIENDS, AND CELEBRATE YOUR RETURN TO THE UNDERWORLD. CLEARLY YOU COULD RESIST BEING WITHOUT ME NO MORE, HOWEVER YOU MUST DEIGN TO SHARE ME, AS I FEAR ALL OUR OTHER FRIENDS WOULD BE SAD TO MISS SEEING YOU WHILE YOU ARE DOWN HERE VISITING.” 

The skeleton appeared to need no reply to his speech, as he continued to talk as he led you through the long, purple corridors of… wherever this was. He’d called it the Underworld, but that only made you think of hell, and hell made you think of what was above. A shiver ran down your spine, and when you looked behind you all you could see was the grin on Sans’ face. You jumped, and Frisk looked up at you before smiling softly and squeezing you hand.

“if you want to have a get together, bro, shouldn’t you call ahead and left everyone know?”

“GASP!” Papyrus made a gasping noise, before saying the word loudly. “YOU ARE RIGHT! SANS! I WILL LEAVE YOU IN CHARGE OF LEADING THE HUMANS HOME- I SHALL RUN AHEAD AND CALL EVERYBODY TO ATTENTION!” And with that the loud skeleton dashed off, pulling a phone out of a pocket you hadn’t seen before. Watching him spin around the corner and out of sight rose a small warmth in your chest, something you hadn’t felt in a long, long time. 

“so, telus kid, what brought you back to the underground?”

Silence followed the question, and Frisk’s grip tighten on your hand. Desperate to avoid conflict, you spoke up again.

“Up there’s not so great, at the moment. They missed you, so we decided to come down here.” That was the nicest way you could possibly put it, but it seemed to work at easing the tension. Frisk nodded in agreement, smiling before signing out something. You hadn’t had the chance to learn sign language before the infection started, so you both struggled with communication a fair bit, but Sans seemed to understand what they were saying perfectly fine.

“yeah, fair enough; better to answer all the questions at once.” 

You blinked, confused as to what had been said. Frisk looked up at you, before turning back to Sans and signing something more. Somehow the skeleton rose the bone where his eyebrows would have been, before shrugging.

“eh, sure, why not.” He looked back at you. “they asked if we could keep the questions until everyone was together.”

“Oh- yeah, that would be better.” Your spare hand fiddled with the torn ends of your jumper. “Thank you for translating.” Again, the skeleton shrugged, before grinning up at you.

“tibia honest, it’s easier for me too.” 

“Was that a-“ You narrowed your eyes, but a smile threatened to crack your lips. “Was that a _pun_?” If it was at all possible, Sans’ grin widened. 

“Aw snap, you saw _right through me_.”

You cursed under your breath, but Frisks laughs echoed down the hall as you all started walking again, Sans leading the way again.


End file.
